Hotel WiFi Too Pricey? Bring Your Own
Alright, hotels. After issuing our Annual WiFi Report year after year, calling out the chains that continue to nickel-and-dime us for WiFi even though plenty of other brands offer it to us for free, it seems that some of you may just never change your charging-for-internet ways (we're looking at you, Four Seasons). And if that's the case, we may just have to take matters into our own hands and bring our own WiFi network with us — that is, once we get our hot little hands on a new product hitting the market, the MiFi.
The New York Times has custody of the first-ever one of these babies; a device that fulfills our fantasy of "a personal Wi-Fi bubble, a private hot spot, that followed you everywhere you go" without having to resort to a cellular modem. Seriously:
Incredibly, there is such a thing. It’s the Novatel MiFi 2200, available from Verizon starting in mid-May ($100 with two-year contract, after rebate). It’s a little wisp of a thing, like a triple-thick credit card. It has one power button, one status light and a swappable battery that looks like the one in a cellphone. When you turn on your MiFi and wait 30 seconds, it provides a personal, portable, powerful, password-protected wireless hot spot.
Believe it; the Times article even has a video demo of the thing. The device gets an Internet signal from Verizon's excellent 3G network, and you pay $40 a month for basic service or $60 for a plan with a few more capabilities. Or, for folks who simply refuse to give a hotel our money for WiFi, you can even just use the thing on a one-day pass that costs $15 for 24 hours.
The MiFi has a 30-foot range, is password-protected and can be shared by up to five people and will be available starting in Mid-May from Verizon. Could this mean that we won't even need a hotel to provide us with internet connections someday?
[Photo: New York Times]
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